Antillean Palm-SwiftTachornis phoenicobia

Behavior

Behavior

Antillean Palm-Swift spend the majority of their time on the wing, presumably foraging for insects in flight. Other than this general information, little about its behavior is known. The flight is described as "very rapid, erratic [and] bat-like, gliding between flapping spurts" (Raffaele et al. 1998). They primarily forage over vegetation, low near the ground (no higher than 20 m; Raffaele et al. 1998), but Wetmore observed a "swarm of these little birds" darting in and out of a tannery under a "long shed-like structure", where he surmised the swifts were feeding on the many flies attracted by the tannery.

Territoriality

Little information. Antillean Palm-Swifts are colonial breeders, nesting in colonies of up to 30 pairs (Wetmore and Lincoln 1933), so presumably any territorial behavior is expressed only in a very small area. There is no information on home range size for Antillean Palm-Swift.